An up to date blog featuring the ups and downs of my Mk1 Volkswagen Jetta

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Admittedly a while since I updated this, but starting my own business has taken its toll somewhat. Since I last posted the leak on the scuttle panel hadn’t been cured, its sorted now though by means of a hell of a lot more grey stripe sealant, I’m fairly convinced its not 100% even now, but it can go on the back burner until its a bit warmer. All the interior is back in now, which makes the car feel a bit more complete.

A pic of underlay in…

The main problem with the car really, was the lack of electricity… it wasn’t until about a month or so ago that I fired the car up having put the interior back in, and drove around to my friends to finally take him and his lady out for a spin in the Jetta. When we got there I showed him what I had done to the scuttle panel, and asked him if I could check the alternator with his Voltmeter. Sure enough the alternator wasn’t charging the battery… So back home I went. All of the earth’s were re done, and it checked the main earth strap and cleaned it up.

With moving in to a premises with my new company, I haven’t had a lot of time for the Jetta in the last couple of months. Having said that, she has had a lot of work done! My mate (being a mechanic) has carried out a fair bit of work on the old girl. He’s been a real godsend, even working when it was snowing, with just the nose of the Jetta poking into his garage at his mom and dads.

Work carried out is as follows:

New Head gasket set fitted, It turned out the Head Gasket had leaked oil onto the Alternator and killed it. New Cam belt (looking back it was last changed in 2008) , New Water pump, New Alternator, New Radiator, New Thermostat, Coolant flush and replace, New Oil and Filter, A good old tidy up of wires, and some new Jubilee clips where they were needed.

That pretty much brings us up to date, other than getting it stuck in Dunston with my business partner. It fired up fine, so we drove it the Dunston to take some photo’s for a client, and when we got back in it wouldn’t start for toffee. Hoping this is down to the power lead that goes to the starter from the battery being pretty broken. I have replaced this now and have yet to test it! Fingers crossed, if this sorts it there are just a few small water leaks to seal before Big Bang!

The old lead!

And the replacement…

She’s currently sat all covered up waiting until the weekend for hopefully a bit of progress, still managed to try out my new cleaning products though! Very pleased with Poorboys White Diamond Sealant. Iron-x is ok but requires a lot of scrubbing on baked on grime.

Not posted on here for a while, having to work 5 days a week has sucked big time, by the time I get home its dark, so no work can be done on the car. My Dad is only free on Saturdays to help, and given that this is a big learning curve for me, I need the help. Throughout the last month or so, the priority has been to stop water getting into the footwells of the car. As of today this is now (hopefully) done.

Below is the crack in the bulkhead, this was visible once the old repair plate was removed, it was stuck down with double sided foam… not the best.

The Repair plate was cracked aswell, so this was replaced with a new one from ebay for £17 delivered.

Out came the welder! Luckily my Dad is a dab hand.

Cleaning as I went along! Still need to fit the new Rad!

Welded and in primer, not needing to be beautiful as its being covered! The black stuff is bitumen as the seal on the Scuttle Panel leaked water down and into the hole, so this was attempt number 1 to stop it.

Dad adding a Bitumen layer to seal the repair plate.

The Repair plate fitted with bolts and a good seal! It was cleaned up after!

New Air filter

Second hand door rubber seal as mine is missing on the rear door, £17 delivered is certainly better than £51 new.

I will admit at this point, that after the effort that went in to sealing up the repair plate, with Bitumen that is used for Gutter seals etc. I thought that would be the end of it, I thought this weekend would of been the one where I put the interior and Dashboard in the car, and went for a drive… However… This is an old car, and they need a lot of love… So on Saturday morning I woke to a wet footwell, still.

It was time to sort out the Scuttle panel, and seal it up once and for all. So it was a trip to Halfords for some Chemical Metal, and Grey Stripe seam sealant. The old seal on the Scuttle panel was removed with a wire drill bit, and was clearly no longer a good seal.

I forgot to take a picture of the final seal with the Grey stripe over the top, but the full seam line of the Scuttle panel has been sealed and has not leaked since! Tonight the car will sleep without its cover!

As the car had been sat for weeks on end without starting I charged the battery, tied an old shoelace to the carb to pull the choke, and hey presto, it started up first time!

With only Saturday and Sunday to work on the car due to the daylight, not much has happened on the Jetta. There wasn’t much work involved, but I found out how the water is getting in, in two places… On the passenger side where the water drains from the Scuttle Panel, it runs over two small grommets that lead to the fusebox, these are leaking!

They have been “bodged” in the past, but they’re no longer holding up.

The amount of water they let in is minimal, so i’m not worried about them. The main leak is on the drivers side. As I have recently learned, a common fault on Mk1 Jettas/Golfs is the clutch cable pulling through the bulkhead causing a split, and the need for a repair plate.

This is the damage from the inside, this would not usually rust, but the water has managed to get in as the seam of the Scuttle panel is no longer sealed, so the water runs down the bulkhead on the drivers side and straight in!

The Grey plate (above) is the repair plate, water can be seen leaking down from the Scuttle panel.

So the Challenge for the next couple of weekends is to seal the Scuttle panel back up so the water drains properly, then fix the bulkhead by the clutch cable!

Some other pics since my last post, one from a while ago of a genuine Gear Gaiter from a mk1 golf that I got from Ebay, as the centre console is originally from a Golf Gti I think. The interior has had a clean since this photo!

So with the water leak came a bit of interior design, I’ve gone for the simplistic style. Seats came out first, followed by soggy carpets that have lived in the greenhouse for 2 weeks. All the water was mopped up, and the metal was dried thoroughly. I was pleasantly surprised to find a solid floorpan underneath the slightly aged carpet. The car wouldn’t fire up in the morning, the fusebox was slightly wet, so a heater blower sat in the empty car for a day to thoroughly dry it.

I got it started in the end, so I think its a slight electrical issue that I will have to look into.

A week later (today) I replaced all of the door membrane, doing it in two layers to prevent any leaks. I only just had enough duck tape, even though it was a brand new roll.

Then came getting the dash out, which was surprisingly fun, armed with a torch and some old tools, myself and my Dad got the dashboard out in a healthy 30 minutes. Not bad for a first go!

Tomorrows job is to clean up underneath the dashboard and on the floorpan, just because I can. At the moment I’m just loving being around the car, its somewhat relaxing, with added help from The Kooks, Ben Howard, and more Kooks.